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Jeez, the semester just got away from me. I had no time for anything
except research, teaching, and family. Just got back from a
conference. Powered through the past couple of weeks of WWF TV and set
myself up to watch the PPV tonight. I have watched the past couple of
PPVs, as well, but I didn't get my reviews up on the web, so I've
attached them here. Hopefully, after the final exam period ends, I'll
have the time to get through some Japanese tapes and post some reviews
of the great matches buried in there. I'll also hopefully have the
chance to capture them for the fserve too. Although my teaching load
decreases next semester, I'm still teaching stuff I haven't taught
before, so there is an enormous amount of preparation required to get
on top of things to the level that I like to be.
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- The WWF had Vengence on PPV this past Sunday, 12/09/2001. In the
weeks leading up to the show, the WWF's fortunes continued to decline,
with the predictable response: hot shot booking, vulgarity and soft
porn. Hey, those things have been credited with the last business
turnaround for the promotion, even though it is unclear just what true
effect they had. I've become enough of a non-serious fan to not want
to bother with the analysis of historical data, at least this time
out, but even if those numbers showed that any of these three elements
of the product played a role in the previous recovery the longer-term
effect has to be considered. The profanity and semi-naked women helped
make WWF TV a lightning rod for negative media attention, much of it
deserved upon careful analysis of the company's attitude, which
started the exodus of TV advertisers, hurting an essential revenue
stream. In the long run, the hot shot "what will happen next" booking
led to unprotected wrestlers being used up before they should have
been; part of that problem is due to the incredible number of hours of
TV product that the company produces, but the accelerated rate at
which up-and-comers become yesterday's stars is further exacerbated by
frequent turns and a lack of respect for basic character traits and
history.
You know, the WWF and Vince McMahon, in particular, have been credited
for an amazing track record for hitting the pulse of what the audience
wants and for making stars out of guys that were wasted elsewhere.
None of that legendary prowess has been dsiplayed in recent time. Even
guys like Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho have not really advanced
beyond the point they were at in WCW. In both promotions, the fans
were conditioned quite quickly to know that these guys were not going
to win the big match. It became such common knowledge that "not
winning the big one" is the story line that led to Chris Jericho's
current push to main event status, har har. Of course, that "push" is
hardly a push, unless you consider being treated like a loser at every
turn on TV as a push. Compare the treatment of Jericho, some of it
quite subtle and all of it designed to set him up to fail, with the
way that HHH was elevated. The sad thing is that, just like WCW, there
is a club of top guys -- Austin, Rock, Undertaker, and the
soon-to-return HHH -- who protect their spots at all costs, losing in
the most strategic ways, always making sure that there are at least
some key moments where they make it clear to everybody, in a match or
in an interview or in both, that the other guy isn't really in their
league. So Benoit, Jericho, Angle, Booker, Rob van Dam, and all
others, are cut off a few times, just long enough for the fans to know
that they shouldn't give a shit about them. Equally bad, guys that did
mean something in WCW, like Big Show or DDP, when absorbed into the
WWF product never seem to mean as much any more. Where is the
brilliance?
And we'll probably never know exactly what happened to totally kill
the whole Invasion angle. It was seemingly the easiest angle in the
world to turn into a huge money machine for the company, but instead
it is dead at a point where it really should have been in the early
building stages. Was it Vince's inability to promote the team of his
greatest competitor in the wrestling war as being on the same footing
as his own team? Linda has said that they were concerned about
diluting their brand name. Was it the egos of WWF wrestlers that led
to them not being willing to work with the WCW guys, who hadn't paid
the same dues? DDP had something hot going with his stalker angle, but
then a couple of key players reported that he "can't work." And,
bang!, he's history, ironically replaced by the workhorse team of
Kronik, who lasted all of one match with the company because they
"can't work" either. Then Rob van Dam gets cheers even though he isn't
positioned to get those cheers. As he starts to gain popularity, what
do we hear from backstage reports: he "can't work." In all of these
cases, "he can't work" actually led to an "I don't want to work with
him" dictum from the key players, which just goes to show you how
great the WWF locker room environment really is. We can say what we
want about Hulk Hogan over all of the years, and he is far far far
from what I consider to be a great wrestler, but he ended up drawing a
shitload of money from guys that we all saw couldn't work. Two words:
Ultimate Warrior.
So, where are we? HHH returns shortly after this PPV, no doubt adding
more harmony to the locker room, cough cough. He wants to be top dog,
and that would require him to be a heel, which he is more comfortable
playing, but it also takes away the obviously hot program built around
revenge for his leg injury. I guess they could still promote that, if
they used some care. Chris Benoit returns in the new year, with zero
expectation that he'll ever get the respect he deserves. And we surely
needed Rock to pull Rikishi back into the upper echelon.
The company did a complete restart after the last PPV. They
nonsensically announced that Shane & Stephanie had sold their shares
in WWFE to a "consortium" to drum up the money they needed to build
WCW nad ECW. Now, I guess that means that Vince and Linda were 50%
owners of the company from that point on. Well, the rabbit pulled out
of the hat turned out to be Ric Flair, who claims to be, I guess, the
full consortium since he says he owns 50% of the company. Are we
really supposed to believe that Vince McMahon is worth $1-billion on
paper, then the kids and he are actually each worth half that, then
the kids sell their half to run WCW and ECW only to lose it all, then
Ric Flair apparently pulled together a half-billion bucks to buy half
of Vince's fortune? And Vince, who was just a week or two before
reconciled with his wife, seeking counselling, is now openly flaunting
a fictional affair with Trish Stratus while getting her to kiss his
ass.
Going into the show, the results seemed at least partially clear. Rob
van Dam can't work, or s the Undertaker would surely convince us. And
who in his right mind would bet on Angle or Jericho in the unification
match?
* Instead of hitting us with a hot opener, the new revamped WWF PPV
product opened just like a Monday Night RAW show: with a lengthy
interview segment. Vince McMahon bitched a bit, and Ric Flair came
out to cut him down.
* Albert & Scotty 2 Hotty beat Test & Christian: Jim Ross announced
that this was a "bonus" match. Now the word "bonus" to me implies
the obtaining of something one actually wants, so I'd like to call
this an "added" match. Heat segment on Hotty. They mentioned that
Test cannot get fired by the WWF for any reason in the next year.
Test himself has jabbered on about this on TV. It then makes
perfect sense that he is content to muck around in half-assed
opening matches. Not that I want to see it, but shouldn't Test be
screwing up all of the main event stuff because he wants to be at
that level? On TV on Thursday, Ric Flair had to point out that if
anybody saved Vince from his ass-kissing punishment that person
would be suspended. In the old days, it went without saying that
interferers risks suspension; now it merits special mention on one
rare case. If that stipulation really made things run more
smoothly, why not make it the standard again? Anyhow, given that
idea, why wouldn't Test farm out his services to anybody, since
Test can't possibly be suspended without pay, right? Just as typed
that, Albert pinned Christian with the Baldo Bomb. It was clear
that this would be the result since the thrown-together team
surely wasn't going to win. Lame-ass opener.
* Edge beat William Regal to retain the IC Title: Jerry Lawler joked
that Regal couldn't have his new trademarked brass knuckles with
him since he wouldn't have been able to get them past airport
security. Which makes you wonder how he brings them anywhere in
the large travel radius that the WWF tours. Back and forth. Edge
scored a two after a rana off the top. Edge hit a sloppy Northen
Lights suplex for another two. Regal took a bump to the floor.
Edge tried a flying shoulder block onto Regal on the floor, but
Regal moved, so Edge ended up nailing the stairs. As the referee
was looking after Edge, Regal pried his brass knuckles out of the
ring assembly. Edge scored a few two counts before Edge hit an
enzuigiri. Regal hit two powerbombs for a two count. Just as Regal
pulled out his knucks, Edge nailed a spear for the pin.
* Jeff Hardy beat Matt Hardy: Lita was assigned as referee. It's
like they want to blow the whole wad in one match every time,
instead of slow-brewing the story line with matches. Match had the
expected structure, starting off sort of scientific before heat of
the moment stuff. Of course, Jeff scored the pin, with Lita
counting it on her boyfriend. Matt ended up storming away later
that night. Boy, I sure hope they don't switch her into presumed
sexual relationships with both brothers. Wrestling bookers sure
hate women.
* Dudleyz beat Big Slow & Kane to retain the WWF Tag Titles: This is
as good a time as any to ask: okay, the Alliance titleholders kept
their jobs after the last PPV. But do they continue to stay on the
WWF payroll even after losing the title belts. The whole match was
built around Big Slow spanking Stacy, based on TV the previous
week. Watching these four while being in the middle of Dynamite
Kid's book makes one realize how important and generally
underappreciated the bumptakers of the business are. Everybody in
this match pretty much stinks at taking good bumps (and I don't
mean stunt man death-defying bumps). After the spanking spot, they
built to this totally contrived spot where Kane clotheslined Slow,
leading to those two arguing. The match continued, but those two
dorks miscued again. Slow ended up taking a flapjack into the
exposed turnbuckle, with Jim Ross calling it a 3D in the
turnbuckles. Hey, if this leads to a Slow vs. Kane match at the
next PPV, I'm all for it. We need some more truly bad wrestling.
Sadly, the two stiffs just lumbered around the ring instead of
brawling with each other.
* Undertaker beat Rob van Dam to win the Hardcore Title: Undertaker
bumped a bit for a couple of high spots after clobbering van Dam
on the first spot. That first miss led to the commentators
completely criticizing van Dam's style, which a cynic might say
was the point of the spot. Undertaker has the same hairdo as
Steven Richards. They brawled on the floor, and Undertaker again
just sort of swatted van Dam out of the air during a high spot.
RVD always went to high spots, 'cause that is his style, and
Undertaker only took or sold half of them. They walked. What would
an Undertaker hardcore match be without some walking? They ended
up at a staging area. RVD used a fire extinguisher and a garbage
can before climbing up to the balcony. A cross body off the
balcony onto Undertaker onto a staged area only gave him a two
count. Still, Undertaker seemed to be walking around before RVD.
They went backstage, ending up behind the Titantron. Hey, I
wondered if a Road Warrior silhouette would fall from the roof.
They ended up out on the platform. UT torpedoed RVD into the
Titantron. He signalled for the powerbomb instead of going for the
pin. RVD grabbed the Titantron to avoid the powerbomb. A chair
came into play. RVD missed the Vandaminator a few times, but UT
hit some chair shots. UT threatened a tombstone, missed it, RVD
missed a Vandamintor, UT hit a chokeslam on RVD through some
tables. Bingo, exactly what one expected coming in. That finish
totally sucked; it's tough to be RVD. UT was walking around
afterwards and even rode his motorcycle away a minute after the
pin. The commentators sputtered that UT took a hell of a beating
from RVD, but the final minutes told the real story: Undertaker
barely sold the accumulated assault of the match, riding off into
the sunset, while RVD lay on the tables in a heap as we cut away
to the next segment. Well, you know, compared to UT, he "can't
work."
* They aired a video on HHH. It was the usual slick, slick
production, but I just don't get HHH's mystique. Made into a name
by a garbage wrestler who is arguably the most believable brawler
of this modern era, HHH somehow has been given this reputation of
being a great worker. He might have a great work ethic and a love
for this business which is transcended only by his love for his
own position in this business, but he doesn't even come close to
being on my top 10 or top 20 list. As this video aired, I kept
wondering how they could possibly have the nerve to air the first
two matches of the three-match title unification mini-tourney
immediately before the unification match.
* Trish Stratus beat Jacqueline to retain the WWF Women's Title:
Okay, is it T&A or is it pseudoathleticism? The bookers can't
decide. The women's division really needs Jazz, who for some
reason is in doing backstage interviews. Oh, hell, the women's
division needs so much more than just Jazz. Anyhow, this was just
about as bad as expected. They tried, but it was so sloppy that I
couldn't look at it in anything except a comedic light. Trish
missed her bulldog spot, but ended up winning with the patented
Dusty Rhodes backslide. They even shook hands afterwards, smiling
at each other.
* They aired high(?)lights of Vince McMahon's stinkface from
Smackdown. Jeez, how much filler can they jam into this PPV?
Apparently a lot. I went up to the desktop computer to do a few
things that my wife needed for work. I was gone literally ten
minutes, thinking I'd missed some great action, but strolled back
into the family room to see Austin just making it into the ring.
Yes, they tournament matches air back-to-back. I have to think
that the PPV could have had a wonderful structure if they aired
the first two tourney matches as the openers and the final match
as, well, the final match.
* Steve Austin beat Kurt Angle to retain the WWF Title: Tremendous
heat. Angle had American flag knee pads on, which I don't remember
from other matches. Good heated action. Angle hit the ankle lock,
but Austin made the ropes. The commentators pushed that the
accumulated damage might leave the winner unable to compete at
full capacity in the final. Then again, the winner might shrug off
the damage in ten seconds and ride off on a motorcycle. Austin's
leg met the ringpost. Angle's chops drew a Ric Flair response.
Angle did the Bret Hart figure four around the post. At this
point, I was expecting an injured Rock to fight an injured Austin
in the main event, with that result being questioned to build up
WrestleMania which would feature a rested Austin against a rested
Rock. Punches. Match was mostly Angle. German suplexes. Angle went
up for his amazing moonsault, but missed it, of course. Austin did
a series of German suplexes. They didn't look like Angle's or
Benoit's is all I can say. Angle hit a low kick. Angle slam for a
two count. Angle tried for a stunner, but Austin hit it instead
for the pin. I can't believe that they only went 11ish minutes.
The historic point of the evening really merited splitting up the
tourney matches and making them all 30 minutes, so the guys in the
final would wrestle an hour in total. Instead it looked like we
had two ten minute matches and a half-hour final on tap.
* As between-match comedy, Test decided to explain that the way in
which he was going to flex his "can't fire me" muscle was by
sexual harassing Trish. Well, she didn't want to kiss Testicle,
instead forcing him out of the room.
* Chris Jericho beat Rock to win the WCW Title: Jericho has dyed the
tailend of his hair red. He also seems a lot thicker on this push
than he did, oh, a year or two ago. Jericho hit a spinkick right
off the bat for the fast three count. Ha ha, sorry, couldn't
resist. The commentators actually tried to convince us that there
was some question about what the result to this match would be,
heavily putting over Jericho. Jericho bumped a lot. Lawler said
that Jericho has beaten Rock twice, but didn't mention that
neither win elevated him because they were both bullshit. They
brawled on the floor. Some nice exchanges. Nothign elaborate, but
nice. There was an odd spot where Rock played possum but the
comentators missed it. Jericho hit a sleeper, which is a
tremendously over move at this point in the WWF, so the heat was
tremendous. Oh, bullshit, Jericho hit the sleeper and the crowd
knew that the match had no chance of ending with that move or that
result. Jericho hit a lionsault and Jim Ross actually said "should
be all." Nobody believed that. Jericho crotched himself on top. A
minute later, Jericho plummetted to the floor off the ringpost.
Jericho slingshotted Rock into the ringpost, more or less. Jericho
took apart the commentary table, because everybody always makes
those table spots as safe as possible. I find that so annoying.
Jericho Rock Bottomed Rock through the table, no, Rock countered
with a DDT through the table. Rock tossed Jericho back into the
ring. Rock Bottom countered into a face first russian leg sweep of
sorts. Senton. Jericho did his version of the people's elbow, but
Rock grabbed him and put the sharpshooter on, but Jericho
countered with the liontamer. Everybody expected Rock to tap. Ha
ha. Rock seemed to black out. As his hands moved lightly on the
mat, Jerry Lawler called it a tap. Rock suddenly went from sleepy
to fully awake, just like Bob Dole on viagra, and grabbed the
ropes. Rock Bottom. Vince McMahon ran out to distract the referee.
Rock had the cover, but Hebner wasn't counting. Rock belted Vince.
Sidewalk slam in the ring. People's elbow. The storyline was that
Vince didn't want his two enemies to be fighting for the title.
Oh, so Jericho was going to get another lame win that isn't really
a win. Jericho hit the low blow. Rock Bottom by Jericho. Three
count. He was announced as "winner of this match and new world
champion."
* Chris Jericho beat Steve Austin to unify the WWF and WCW Titles:
No rest period. 20 minutes in PPV time. Kurt Angle ran in to lay
out Austin. Rock laid out Jericho. Rock chased Angle to the back.
Not sure where McMahon was. "Undisputed championship match" said
the graphic. Jericho scored a two count on Austin. All Jericho,
who recovered before Austin did. They went to the floor. All
Austin. Personally, I would like to see a Jericho vs. Benoit
program for the world title. They ended up on the Spanish
commentary table. Jericho tumbled to the floor. Jericho tried for
a submission off an armbar. No luck. Just as I was thinking "time
for a referee bump," Hebner bumped to the floor. Austin was
hitting his comeback. Vince came out, calling Nick Patrick to the
ring. It's all about Montreal again. This time, though, Ric Flair
canme out to stop the screw. Vince attacked Flair, posting him,
with Flair making it look better than anybody on the active roster
does. Austin laid out Vince. Thesz press with no ref. Elbow.
Boston crab on Jericho, with Chris tapping. Booker T ran in and
belted Austin before running off. "He doesn't work here!" Vince
tossed Hebner in. What a total mess. Jericho scored the three
count. I think my problem is that when I think about the result of
a PPV match I never take into account twenty million
interferences. Vince laughed in total overacted fashion. Well, at
least they tried to make things fresh, but they've now got a
champion that nobody believes can really beat anybody. In the old
days, the heel champ was a heel because he cheated or was in some
way a prick, but we still believed he was tough enough to beat
anybody. Flair cheated his way through title matches and often
screwed the other guy, but we all believed that he was tough
enough to win. Unless they actually put Jericho over somebody
cleanly, this experiment is never going to succeed.
- The WWF presented Survivor Series on PPV this past Sunday,
10/18/2001. Leading up to the show, the ratings plummeted and the
ensuing desperation behind the scenes influenced the booking to the
point that it made as little sense at times as the stuff we were given
by WCW in its last year-or-less. A turn by Kurt Angle that made no
sense followed, by an explanatory interview that was stilted and
unbelievable, led to it being another turn that meant absolutely
nothing for business. It was clear to everybody that the bookers just
wanted another "star" on the Alliance side because their booking had
clearly established the once-fresh WCW guys as not being stars.
Really, don't you think a little simple booking, taught in all Booking
101 classes and understood by any fan who has been watching wrestling
for a while, could have made somebody like Lance Storm or Mike Awesome
mean enough to warrant their inclusion in this main event angle? And,
yeah, Rob van Dam needs work, in part because his first few All Japan
tours taught him to work stiffly and his ECW stint taught him to work
sloppily, but, hell, did they ever cut his legs off at and after his
PPV main event match. The reuniting of Linda & Vince came at the same
time that Stephanie reminded us on The Weakest Link that Trish Stratus
slept with Vince. Who cares if he drugged Linda, etc.? He just wiped
it away with the smallest nonmention in his interview. If he and she
don't care about the angles, why should we? This is WCW all over
again. So, they teased that Vince was going to lure Steve Austin over
to the WWF, or perhaps Vince would end up taking over the Alliance
side. Whoopie. Like either of those outcomes make any sense. Mick
Foley and all sense have left this promotion. And do any fans actually
believe the stipulation, anyhow? The only part of all of this I
enjoyed a bit was Paul Heyman pushing the idea that "wrestling" was
once again going supplant "sports entertainment."
* Christian beat Al Snow to retain the European Title: Nothing
special. The commentary focused on the main event. The fans seemed
hot. When Christian won, it seemed like the WWF was sure to win
the main event, since it would make sense to tease an Alliance
domination by having them win title matches; then when the WWF
wins the main event, all of the Alliance champs would keep their
jobs based on a stipulation tossed out at the 11th hour.
* Steve Regal beat Yoshihito Tajiri: Regal wore new tights: black
with a slight red flare. Tajiri, the Cruiserweight champion, a
title change that never happened, with no real explanation for
X-Pac's disappearance, got stuck in a match with Regal. These guys
are both strong workers, so don't get me wrong: the point of this
rant is that the bookers and Vince don't value the Cruiserweight
title at all, as evidenced by how the titles have been treated
since the invasion and the lack of any Cruiserweight involvement
in the storyline demise of one of the promotions. Regal's nose got
bloodied. Tajiri got tangled in the ropes. They got back in the
ring and Regal quickly pinned Tajiri with a powerbomb. Heyman got
excited because the Alliance won both PPV matches at this point,
as well as the Heat match. "Do you see the pattern?" Yeah, Paul,
the Alliance is going to lose the main event, at this rate. Torrie
Wilson, who apparently jumped to the WWF by siding with Tajiri,
but that was never explained or played up, ran in, with Regal
powerbombing her. Yuk yuk, a joke about the Alliance having
several positions for Torrie Wilson when they win tonight.
* Edge beat Test to unify the WCW US and WWF Intercontinental
Titles: To set up this match, they had Edge pin Kurt Angle with a
distraction finish. If they had that in mind, there was no reason
to give Angle the US Title, since he didn't need to be taken down
a notch with that bogus finish. The explanation, of course, is
that nobody had this match in mind until a week before the PPV.
Test hit on Stacey before the match. Edge did a poor interview
before the match. Paul Heyman said that one title would dissolve
this evening, which seemed to imply that the winning titleholder
wouldn't have two belts but would eliminate the other title. Match
was actually not bad, but I don't enjoy watching Test. They did
this incredibly lame overchoreographed spot where Test missed a
charging high kick, turned around, and Edge missed a spear.
Nothing wrong with the concept, but Test is a bit too lumbering to
make the spot work. Finally, Edge got the pin. For the first time,
I wanted the WWF side to win, since it theoretically would mean
that I would never have to see Testicle wrestle again.
* Dudleyz beat Hardyz to unify the WCW and WWF Tag Titles: For no
real reason, this was a cage match. Adding gimmicks to matches for
no reason was another WCW hallmark in its dying days. The question
was how the women -- Lita and Stacey -- would get involved in the
match. Some good fast action, but, as with all matches in the
modern era, once sensed that the crowd just wanted high spots and
power moves and nothing to develop the match. Jim Ross broke out
his cliche about the cage being "unforgiving," sort of like the
loyalty of casual fans when the booking becomes ridiculous. Hardyz
did their usual double team spots, with the cage playing no role.
Hardyz tried to get out of the cage, but got cut off. Matt hit a
russian leg sweep off the top rope and Buh Buh hit his retaded
butt bomb move of the top rope. As Buh Buh climbed up again, Jim
Ross said that an escape to the floor means victory. I became
confused about whether both team members needed to get out. Oh,
what does it matter. Jeff tried to scurry out, with Matt still
laid out in the ring. Jim Ross got excited about Jeff "trying to
win the match." Oh, so that answers my question. But wait, Pual
Heyman said that both men have to get out for a team to win. More
WCW memories, as the key voice of the product doesn't seem to know
the rules of the gimmick matches. The Dudleyz killed the Hardyz
for a few minutes. Hardyz rallied for a few minutes. Buh Buh took
a top rope splash and leg drop combo, but kicked out at the two.
Oh, so pinfalls count too. I guess I missed that explanation. Matt
found himself hanging from the top of the cage by his ankle. D-Von
hit the whassup. Buh Buh yelled at Stacey for a table. She pulled
it out, sweet talked Nick Patrick who had the only key outside the
ring, and passed a table in. Patrick locked the door again. Matt
tried to get out of the cage, but ended up trading blows with Buh
Buh before dropping out. This seemed like a cool way to tease more
dissension between Jeff and Matt, as Jeff was sure to get
pummelled. Heyman really pushed the idea that Matt's escape was a
mistake. Jeff climbed to the top of the cage and, instead of
escaping, jumped off the top of the cage through a table. "Jeff
could not resist the swanton off the top of the cage." How
retarded. Buh Buh pinned Jeff for the win. The brought out a
stretcher for Jeff. The slow motion replay looked good, in that
D-Von didn't move out of the way early and barely got out of the
way.
* At this point, for the first time ever on a WWF PPV in my memory,
they aired a rundown of the upcoming house show schedule. I dunno,
this time and when ECW did it regularly it seemed sort of low
rent. Mick Foley did an interview putting down the
commissionership. Test beat up Scotty 2 Hotty backstage in the
hopes of taking him out of the battle royal.
* Test won the "Keep Your Job" Immunity Battle Royal: They played
generic entrance music with everybody walking in. Test walked in
to compete in the match, since he beat up Scotty. Yeah, that
seemed kosher. The winner of this match is supposed to have a job
for one year regardless of the outcome of the remainder of the
show. The ring filled with nobodies. Stasiak was dumped after one
second. Tazz walked in late. Oh, what the hell, this is ECW again,
with no rules or standards. It seemed to me from TV that Tazz was
being set up for Sting's old WCW spot, in this case guaranteed a
job for one year and not loyal to either promotion. One of the few
entertaining guys in the ring, Hurricane Helms was eliminated in
short order too. As the Observer pointed out, like every other
promoter, when Vince feels panic he pushes the big guys,
regardless of (lack of) talent. Chavo Guerrero & Hugh Morrus ran
in halfway through the match. Now, they were fired by the Alliance
and weren't in this match, but their eliminations counted. Man,
battle royals suck. It came down to Tazz, Bradshaw, Billy Kidman,
Billy Gunn, Lance Storm, and Test. Tazz got dumped, so so much for
my reading the preshow booking. That left me thinking that Test
would get a win back. Kidman got dumped. Test & Gunn hugged in the
corner, while Bradshaw outwrestled Storm. Yikes. They did some
phony eliminations before Test eliminated everybody. Hey, which
promotion does this remind of: somebody who before this show was
not advertised to be in the match, somebody beat up somebody else
to get in the match with nobody questioning that action, that's
the guy who won the match! WCW? No! ECW? No!
* Next, they aired a music video just to annoy me. Look, you've got
my money. I'm sold on the product. You don't need to convince me
to spend the money. Why waste air time on a PPV with this stuff
that I've seen on TV so many times. It would be something else if
they debuted a new song/video on the PPV, and even that I would
find annoying, but to just replay the thing they've shown on the
pregame TV show...which promotion does this remind you of? ECW?
No!
* Trish Stratus won the WWF Women's Title: What was the status of
the women's title before this match? Who knows? Nobody explained
things. Match was a six-woman bout with two in the ring and one in
each of the four corners, with anybody allowed to tag anybody.
Match involved Trish Stratus, Jacqueline, Lita, Ivory, Molly, and
Jazz (formerly of ECW). Heyman really put over Jazz, but the crowd
didn't know anything about her. The production crew earned their
money in this match, cutting to different cameras with the impact
of seemingly every move in the match. Match turned into a mess,
with everybody coming into the ring. Jackie ended up turning on
Lita, just as the commentators pointed out it was every woman for
herself. Lita hit a moonsault on Ivory for a two, with Jazz
breaking it up. Jazz, pushed as a killer by Heyman, was booked as
nothing special. To make matters worse, Jazz did a horrible missed
plancha. Trish scored the win, pinning Ivory after a bulldog. This
wasn't as bad as most North American women's matches have been in
recent years.
* Rock & Chris Jericho & Kane & Undertaker & Big Slow beat Steve
Austin & Kurt Angle & Booker T & Shane McMahon & Rob van Dam: The
hype package for this match started with 1:05 left in the PPV.
Crowd was hot for Rock vs. Austin to open. Boy this stipulation
really could have meant something if things had been done right.
Of course, it then cuold have meant something years later. RVD
drew a good response. Hey, regardless of how this match ends, Rock
& Austin have jobs, given that they have the singles titles,
right? Shane kept interfering with hit-and-run tactics. Undertaker
was in for what seemed like a decade of destruction, which I could
only hope meant that he would be the first guy eliminated. Crowd
kept chanting "Shane's a pussy," with nobody acknowledging it. Jim
Ross said, "He could be as good as anybody ever in this game"
while talking about the Big Slow. Main commentator lying through
his teeth like that...what promotion does that remind you of? The
answer to all of these questions, of course, is "a promotion that
was out of business months later." Big Slow took a slam from Angle
and finishers from everybody else, before Shane took the glory of
pinning him. In reliation, the WWF side did all of their finishers
on Shane before Jericho eliminated him. Booker T started to work
over Jericho. Booker was on a local radio station on the phone
from Florida recently to hype ticket sales for WrestleMania. He
said he hopes that he'll be in the main event of WrestleMania,
'cause that's his dream, particularly given that this will be his
first WrestleMania. Kane outpowered van Dam, who rallied when with
the five star splash when Booker was brought in for a second.
Booker hit the missile dropkick on Kane and van Dam hit a high
kick for the pin. It seemed certain that Undertaker would
eliminate van Dam to even things up, but instead it turned into a
mess. Holy shit, Undertaker clotheslined everybody and dominated
again for a couple of minutes. Jeez, I just don't understand the
fascination with this guy. It's like the WCW fascination with
Kevin Nash. Austin stunned Undertaker behind the referee's back,
and UT was eliminated. Things didn't look so good for the
Alliance, since they were ahead four to two at this point. Can't
argue with getting rid of the four guys they got rid of, though. I
figured it would be a while before somebody else was eliminated.
Indeed, it took a few minutes before both Booker T and van Dam
were eliminated. At this point, the battle of the two companies
involved four guys with roots in one company. And that it was
ultimately makes this storyline suck: they never bothered to book
to elevate legitimate outsiders to star level. Austin and Angle
really worked hard in this match. You gotta love each guy's work
ethic. Heat segment on Jericho, followed by a hot tag to Rock.
Crowd heat was nowhere near what it should have been given what
was supposedly at risk. Rock put the sharpshooter on Angle, who
tapped out. And suddenly it seemed like the Alliance would win
after all, that or story line would take over. Jim Ross didn't
waste the opportunity to allude to the Bret Hart screwjob. Of
course, Austin pinned Jericho, Jericho got pissed, and Jericho
nailed Rock. Austin scored a two count off of Jericho's shot.
Jericho started to walk back to ringside, but Undertaker ran down
to ringside and forced Jericho to the back. Austin & Rock brawled
at ringside a bit. Austin put a sloppy sharpshooter on Rock, but
referee Earl Hebner stayed straight. I half expected Vince McMahon
to come down and tell Earl to ring the bell. Rock put the
sharpshooter on Austin. Austin made the ropes, but Rock pulled him
back in the ring without releasing the hold. Did it make any sense
for the WWF referee to call this match fairly, given that he would
presumably lose his job if Austin won? Rock hit a stunner on
Austin. Nick Patrick pulled Hebner out of the ring when Rock had
the pin. Austin Rock Bottomed the Rock, but Patrick only counted
two. Why wouldn't he fast count? Austin nailed Patrick. At least
that made some sense. Wait, Austin pulled in Hebner, who bumped
when Austin was pushed into him. Austin stunner Rock. No referee.
Incredible overbooking? What does that remind you of? Kurt Angle
ran in and nailed Austin with the belt. Rock scored the pin. Huh,
like that Angle turn makes sense. The commentators tried to play
it up, but it had pretty much no impact. I'm left with the
impression that they are going to restart the invasion angle. The
Alliance as we knew it is dead, but a new promotion will rise from
the ashes and they might try to do it right this time. Vince
McMahon came out with his hands raised high.
- The WWF had No Mercy on this past Sunday, 10/21/2001. Anybody who
e-mails me to say I'm not a wrestling fan must miss the fact that I
somehow manage to get stoked like a mark as every PPV arrives. It
seemingly doesn't matter to my mark gene that the general promotional
direction stinks, that the entire invasion angle was botched so
horribly in so many sad ways. On this night, it didn't even seem to
matter that Undertaker & Kane were going to not one but two matches
into total abortions. It also didn't matter that the soap operatic
elements of some key matches was pretty transparent: McMahon-mania in
the main event, Jericho turning heel. For some reason, I focus on the
small number of great things expected on the show: the stunt man work
of Edge & Christian (why, oh why, are in they in a ladder match
already?), the great comedy of the mannerisms of Hurricane Helms, the
work of Lance Storm, the possibility of Jericho finally getting over
at the next level, the expected great work in the main event (by
Angle, most notably; and who will van Dam injure first with his
stiff/sloppy work?), and the absolute horribleness of Kane vs. Test
(so bad it could be good).
Rundown:
* Hardy Boyz beat Hurricane & Lance Storm to retain the WCW Tag
Titles: Storm & Hurricane showed a couple of nice tag spots early
on, but then the match turned messy, with everybody getting
involved and the referee not breaking things up. The idea seemed
to be to get to Hurricane's plancha-with-cape spot as early as
possible, I guess. Even the girls got involved to set it up.
Thankfully, it turned into a wrestling match again, with the
Alliance side continuing to control the ring with more nice work.
Jeff countered a whip to the corner with a slow rope climb and a
twisting body press of some sort; poor Lance had to stand there
like he was mesmerized while waiting to get hit. Sure it looks
spectacular and requires some gymnastic skill, but it just doesn't
fit. Hardyz took charge, although Hurricane got a great close fall
with a roll up. Lane & Hurricane hit a double superkick. Everybody
got in. The women got involved. Lita hit a rana on Storm. Hardyz
hit the twist of fate and the senton for the pin, while Heyman
yelled about a lack of tags. Well, jeez, the Hardy Boyz tagged
maybe half the number of times that they should have, given the
number of times the guy on the apron entered the ring. Good
opener, but I kind of wish that the result went the other way.
* Test beat Kane: At least they put it early. In reality, no matter
where on the card this match took place it was going to suck huge.
"Two big young studs," said Jim Ross, while saying that we would
have "smashmouth" wrestling in this bout. It was bad. Kane press
slammed Test and dropped him to the ringside floor. Nick Patrick
distracted Kane outside the ring, and Test whacked Kane with the
ring bell. Jim Ross got excited that Patrick didn't DQ Test. Well,
after that run of Kane offense, the match quality was ready to
turn around as Test started to show his offensive moves. Yuck,
yuck, that's a joke, folks. Kane rallied in short order. Jim Ross:
"Boy, this thing is...this is how it's gonna be." Indeed.
Unfortunately, it really wasn't quite as bad as I had expected,
nah, hoped, so it was just horrible and not
so-horrible-it-was-good. Lots of lame work, don't get me wrong.
Give the most credit to the production manager for switching
cameras almost every time there was an impact spot. He misjudged a
few, though, so we did get to see some of those really lame
punches and elbows not connect at all. I felt so sad listening to
Ross & Heyman push these two guys like they were great, while at
the same time this promotion has buried or left stagnant so many
talented workers. Kane kicked out of the superkick. Test kicked
out of the choke slam. Kane hit a powerslam and tried for a
clothesline off the top, but missed. Test hit a pump handle slam
for a two count and did this amazing facial reaction to the kick
out. Elbow off the top for a two count. Test's reaction to his
inability to pin Kane was farcical. Test grabbed a chair. Kane
dropkicked the chair into Test. The referee stopped Kane from
using the chair. Test kicked Kane and scored the pin. Jim Ross
blamed the referee for the result, and Kane choke slammed Patrick
after the match. Kane choke slammed him twice and powerbombed him.
* Torrie Wilson beat Stacy Keibler in a lingerie match: Fink
introduced this as the "first-ever lingerie match," which I
guessed meant that they had come with some new sort of rule book
for this match. The firls wrestled in lingerie. Stacy did
cartwheels, so we could she her underwear. Stacy whipped Torrie's
butt. The girls rolled around and the camera was on the wrong end.
Their ourfits really weren't all that revealing, just showing a
bit more buttceek than these women usually show. They did a
sequence of near falls that was pretty funny. Torrie did a
handspring elbow off the of the ropes a la Yoshihiro Tajiri that
was no worse than the stuff that Chyna did for so long (think
about that). Torrie got the pin with a roll up, and, again, the
camera angle was all wrong. If they are going to do some smutty
stuff with carefully clothed girls, they might as wel exploit the
camera shots, like ECW always did.
* Edge beat Christian in a ladder match to win the IC Title: My
video feed froze in the hype segment leading up to this match.
Luckily, when I switched channels and came back, everything was
fine. The last time I did that, the converter locked up and I had
to cancel the show and order a rebroadcast. They brawled in the
aisle. They bralwed into the crowd. Edge catapulted Christian into
the ladder in a spot that looked lame to me. Edge constructed a
brigde with the ladder, but ended up getting dumped on it himself.
Christian did a crotch spot on the ladder-bridge, which took,
ahem, balls. Christian rallied with a ladder shot on Edge.
Christian tried to climb fo the title, but Edge cut him off.
Christian basically dominated for a short bit before Edge dumped
Christian off the top onto the ladder. Some innovative
ladder-based spots in the match. Good drama as the match built.
Still, the WWF audience has seen so many ladder matches this year
that they popped for the spots without, I think, really
appreciating the stupidity of it all. The best ladder matches
remain the ones with a heavy dose of wrestling before the ladder
is even worked into the match; when Benoit vs. Jericho ended, I at
least felt like I had seen a wrestling match. This was a great
stunt man show, but it didn't seem much like a match. This ladder
match had to have three ladders and a shitload of chairs. Edge
laid Christian across the tops of two ladders with chairs
underneath him (I should say that Christian graciously laid
himself in that position) and Edge hit a concerto before grabbing
the belt for the win. Crazy stunts worth seeing.
* Dudleyz beat Yoshihiro Tajiri & Big Slow to retain the WWF Tag
Titles: Match was pretty much Tajiri getting pummelled, so it was
actually pretty good. Tajiri was pretty much a one-man show. Big
Slow was horrible, as expected. The referee ate some mist, with
Slow getting a cover during the down period. Rhyno ran in and
gored Slow. Tajiri somehow rallied, though, getting a great two
count on D-Von before losing to the 3D.
* Undertaker beat Booker T: Booker T definitely needed to win this
match if the Alliance is meant to be taken seriously. Booker
attacked UT while he was rolling, rolling, rolling to the ring.
Undertaker sold for a full three seconds. Back in the ring, Booker
actually got to pound Mr. Taker in the corner. Undertaker did his
armlock crap that has zero credibility. Undertaker did the rope
walk. They brawled into the crowd and around ringside. Man,
Undertaker just sucks so much. Missile dropkick and a quick cover
for a two count. Jim Ross pointed out that Undertaker has a
"decade of destruction" of match ratings as his legacy. Booker
worked hard, so the match was much better than most UT matches,
but UT still brought Booker down from the level he can work at.
They traded punches a lot. Booker did the spinneroonie when UT was
on the floor. He cut off UT when he came in, but UT got his feet
on the rope. UT finally got the expected win; like he would lose.
* Chris Jericho beat Rock to retain the WCW Title: Match started
with both guys working as old-style babyfaces. Lots of headlocks,
armlocks, etc., as weardown moves. As you might expect, I enjoyed
this part of the match. Rock is so over that he doesn't have to do
anything spectacular to get a reaction. Jericho threw punches
first. They went to brawling on the floor. Back in the ring,
Jericho punched and kicked. Rock rallied with punches. In order to
frame this match, the commentators dropped names like Ricky
Steamboat and Ric Flair, which I guess is allowed when the
competition is dead. Rock hit a dramatic superplex on Jericho off
the top, with both wrestlers getting up at nine. Punches. Rock
went ballistic, a la Hogan, totally unstoppable. They went outside
for a second, getting boos when Rock tossed Jericho back inside.
Jericho took a stiff clothesline for a two count. Rock went back
to a headlock. I have to say that I was really enjoying this match
at this point. I felt like they were working a different style
match than anything we've seen in the WWF in recent times, and it
was just as captivating and enjoyable when done this well as the
standard WWF style can be. Sadly, it underlined how badly they
missed the boat with the invasion angle. Imagine if they would
have had WCW guys come working a modernized 1980s-NWA style,
appealing to the history of the promotion. Interpromotional
matches could have had real flavour, with either the WWF flavour
or the WCW flavour making the difference. Oh well. After a missile
dropkick by Jericho, they did another nine count. Jericho barely
hit a neckbreaker, followed by a rana for a two count. Jericho hit
a rock bottom on Rock to a reasonable reaction. Lionsault. Two
count. Heyman started calling Jericho a choke artist for not
putting Rock away. Facecrusher. People's elbow by Jericho,
complete with the stripping of the elbow pad. Nope, Rock moved.
Rock ended up with a sharpshooter after a sloppy dragon screw.
Jericho reached the ropes. Rock dismantled the Spanish commentary
table. I had figured that they were saving that for the main
event. Rock Bottom on the table. Referee apparently wasn't
counting them out. They showed Charles Robinson on the second
rope, counting. When the Rock rolled in at eight, the referee
gestured that the count was broken. I guess we'll never see that
"beat him back to the ring" count out finish in this regime. Rock
went back out and tossed in Jericho. Rock waited for Jericho to
get up for another Rock Bottom, but Jericho countered, nope, took
it, and then took the people's elbow, nope, Jericho hit the
liontamer. Rock failed to reach the rope, as Jericho dragged him
back into the ring. Stephanie came out and threw a chair into the
ring. Jericho let go of the hold. Rock DDTed Jericho. Stephanie
cheered on Rock because she hates Jericho so much. Rock hit a rock
bottom on Stephanie. Jericho dropped Rock face first on the chair
and scored the pin. The commentators sold the result like it was
Stephanie's nightmare. How long before Jericho & Stephanie are
together? Rock waited behind Jericho, as Jericho celebrated. Rock
ended up handing the chair to Jericho, as if to say that that was
what he used to win. Really, really great match, a must-see. I
could have lived without Stephanie being involved in the tainted
victory, but I guess that's planting the seed of Jericho's
eventual coupling with her. Hey, that could bode well for Jericho
as a player, since HHH would surely return a little pissed if
Stephanie was working closely with another guy.
* Steve Austin beat Kurt Angle & Rob van Dam to retain the WWF
Title: When they announced that this match would have no DQ, all I
heard was that it would lots of run-ins. Open was awesome, with
Angle suplexing the other two guys silly. They made it clear that
it was every man for himself. Austin seemed more interested in
working on van Dam, which seemed like a cool way to give van Dam's
presence some purpose. Austin & Angle ended up in the crowd for a
few seconds. RVD did a somersault tope onto nobody in particular,
with everybody falling down. Brawling outside. Angle vs. RVD in
the ring. Angle hit a beautiful moonsault. Austin came back in,
with RVD hanging out on the apron. RVD bumped. Double clothesline
in the ring, RVD hit a frog splash on an empty mat. "Who was RVD
going for?" Austin & Angle brawled on the floor, including the
requisite table spots. Out of the blue, RVD dove into the scene.
Bingo, Vince McMahon came out with 10 minutes to go in the PPV
window. RVD vs. Angle in the ring. Austin laid out by the table.
Austin crept back in and stunned Angle to the floor. Vince came in
and chaired Austin across the back. He then urged Angle to get
back in. Meanwhile, RVD hit the frog splash. Angle made the save.
RVD took a series of suplexes. Shane came out, and he and Vince
brawled. Angle seemed dead. Austin hit the stunner on RVD for the
pin. "RVD may never be the same."
- The fserve has been up pretty much nonstop. At this point, I've
transferred over 50 Gigs of data to wrestling fans, averaging over 10
Gigs a month. Go here for more explanation.
Here's the current list of captured matches.
Date of Match Match Details Comments on Match Comments on Movie File
Date Added
1981/12/12 AJ Bruiser Brody & Jimmy Snuka vs. Terry Funk & Dory Funk
Jr. The annual All Japan tag tourney final, featuring the debut of
Stan Hansen in the All Japan ring. A legendary match, which launched
Stan Hansen's lengthy career in the promotion.
* * * * 1/2 Size: 260,755,456
Duration: 30:00
Video quality is shaky, but it is watchable in a small window. This
file is really only for historians. 2001/07/25
1986/08 AJW Bull Nakano & Condor Saito vs. Itsuki Yamasaki & Noriyo
Tateno Yamasaki & Tateno were called the Jumping Bomb Angels; they
visited the WWF for a run in North America.
* * * * 1/2 Size: 164,038,656
Duration: 19:52
Video quality is decent, but a bit shaky. 2001/07/18
1990/11/17 UWFh El Gran Hamada & Kendo & Blackman vs. Brazo do Oro &
Brazo de Plato & Brazo de Plata El Gran Hamada & Perro Aguayo worked
against each other in the 1980s in New Japan as a special feud over a
Mexican title belt. Hamada's major contribution to the style of
lightheavyweight wrestling came from bringing a hybrid lucha libre
style to Japan in 1990. Hamada's UWF created a blend of lucha libre,
New Japan junior heavyweight, and comedy that later became the
foundation for Michinoku Pro wrestling. This is a great match from the
early days of the UWFh.
* * * * 1/4 Size: 194,183,168
Duration: 24:31
Video quality is excellent. 2001/07/25
1991/04/20 AJ Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi vs.
Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi Just one of the marathon
six-man tags that defined All Japan in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
This match never aired on TV, but this commercial version of the match
shows us 48 minutes of a 51 minute battle.
* * * * 3/4 Size: 447,152,128
Duration: 55:45
Video quality is very good. 2001/07/17
1992/06/05 AJW Manami Toyota & Mima Shimoda vs. Akira Hokuto & Etsuko
Mita Four of the most amazing women wrestlers of the late 1980s and
early-to-mid 1990s. Matches involving these women in any combination
are always great. Hokuto is my personal favourite of all-time.
* * * * 1/4 Size: 106,227,712
Duration: 12:45
Video quality is very good. 2001/07/17
1992/08/15 AJW Manami Toyota vs. Toshiyo Yamada Regular tag partners
and tag champions, Yamada & Toyota here faced each other in a hair vs.
hair match for Toyota's IWA Title. This is a legendary match of the
year.
* * * * * Size: 146.159.616
Duration: 17:57
Video quality is very good. 2001/07/17
1996/10/10 MPro Dick Togo & Mens Teioh & Shoichi Funaki & Shiryu &
Taka Michinoku & Great Sasuke vs. El Gran Hamada & Super Dolphin &
Tiger Mask IV & El Gran Naniwa & Masato Yakushuji Many of these guys
are familar. Taka & Sho Funaki are in the WWF now. Dick Togo was with
them for a bit as part of Kaientai. Watching matches from this time
period involving these guys will help you realize just how much they
were and are wasted in the WWF. Shiryu is Kaz Hayashi. This match was
part of the Dynamite Kid revival show. The Dynamite Kid match was sad
to watch, but this bout just rocked, as did their similar
show-stealing match on the first ECW PPV. Compare some of the moves
and comedy to the stuff from Hamada's UWF years earlier.
* * * * 3/4 Size: 317,566,976
Duration: 39:35
Video quality is excellent. 2001/07/25
1997/02/09 NJ Jushin Liger vs. Shinjiro Otani Liger was a god for many
years in New Japan. Even with injuries grounding him and forcing a
style change, he's remained, more often than not, the guy who delivers
great matches. Otani is caught up in the current muck that is the New
Japan booking formula of the new millennium. At this point in time,
however, he was just the best damn worker in the world. His facial
expressions are awesome. Liger defends the J Crown in this match.
* * * * 3/4 Size: 137,388,032
Duration: 17:26
Video quality is excellent. 2001/08/05
1997/02/16 NJ Jushin Liger vs. Koji Kanemoto A J Crown defence for
Liger. Kanemoto in some ways had to overcome the Tiger Mask gimmick,
in the process also becoming one of the best workers in the world.
* * * * 3/4 Size: 99,854,336
Duration: 12:15
Video quality is excellent. 2001/08/05
1997/11 NJ Jushin Liger & Kendo Ka Shin & El Samurai vs. Shinjiro
Otani & Koji Kanemoto & Tatsuhito Takaiwa These New Japan juniors had
numerous awesome six-man tags during this time frame. This is just one
of them; I have never been able to pin down the exact date.
* * * * Size: 72,411,136
Duration: 8:56
Video quality is excellent. This smaller file may be a good first
choice to download if you just want to check out the divx video
quality. 2001/08/05
1997/11/27 AJ Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs. Jinsei Shinzaki &
Hayabusa This match from the annual All Japan tag tournament seemed a
bit of a risk going in because of the potential style clash. It paired
two of the best wrestlers in the world against two really flashy
spotty garbagy wrestlers. For me it was among the first single that
Japanese puroresu was going to follow suit with North American
wrestling: I remember when Bret Hart was still on top in the WWF and
everything was turning spotty around him...like Chris Benoit and Kurt
Angle in the present WWF, it just seemed kind of sad to see a great
wrestler surrounded by spotty guys. Through the awesomeness of Misawa
& Akiyama, this match somehow held together as a great match with the
incomparable All Japan build to the finish.
* * * * 3/4 Size: 126,916,608
Duration: 15:31
Video quality is excellent. 2001/08/06
1997/12/05 AJ Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs. Toshiaki Kawada &
Akira Taue The annual All Japan tag tourney final from 1997. An
off-the-charts match.
* * * * * Size: 183,762,944
Duration: 22:25
Video quality is excellent. The audio is ever so slightly out of sync,
but I couldn't find an easy way to fix it. It is almost unnoticeable,
but I'm a perfectionist. 2001/08/06
1997/12/08 NJ Shinjiro Otani vs. Kendo Ka Shin The annual All Japan
tag tourney final, featuring the debut of Stan Hansen in the All Japan
ring. A legendary match, which launched Stan Hansen's lengthy career
in the promotion.
* * * * Size: 90,597,376
Duration: ?:??
Video quality is excellent. 2001/08/05
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